Devastating Flashbacks
by smartkid37
Summary: The Team's first experience with Ziva's driving has unforseen consequences.
1. Scared To Death

**A/N: Tag: Silver War - Includes remembered conversations from Hometown Hero and Hiatus Part 2**

* * *

_ZIVA: Agent Gibbs? I would also like to know if I could drive the truck back to base. It might make me feel as if I actually accomplished something today._

_TONY: Hey, not so fast!  
ZIVA: I always drive fast! It's the best way to avoid possible IEDs and ambushes.  
TONY: You're in America now. I wouldn't worry about it. How about this? Slow down or I'll puke on you._

_TONY: Slow down, we're taking the next left.  
CAR HORNS HONK/TIRES SCREECH  
TIM: Ziva, car! Car! Car!  
TONY: LOOK OUT!  
ZIVA: Sorry. First time behind the wheel after a six month mission in the U.K._

* * *

_The world around him faded in a blur of white; he was in hell; again. No, wait; this was his first trip there; again. Why was he back here? Why were there more images now; than there had ever been before? Flashes of blinding light; screeching tires; honking horns; screaming people; both from a distance and up close; even his own screams; all surrounded him now; he can feel the panic rising up in his chest; can feel his breath begin to have trouble finding its' way in and out of his lungs. He's in serious trouble and he can't find the breath to cry out for help; or form the words necessary. His eyes roll back into his head and blackness overtakes him._

"PROBIE!" McGEE! PROBIE!!! "Ziva get Gibbs now!" Tony hollered; worried sick and scared out of his mind. As he quickly hit the speed dial # for Ducky on speaker; he searched for but couldn't seem to find a pulse! What the hell happened? Ziva had lighteningly fast took herself to the back of the truck for the first aid kit; calling Gibbs on Tim's cell as she moved. Quickly; he laid Tim out flat on the seat of the truck; thankful they had made it back to NCIS before this awful turn of events took place.

"Anthony? What can I ..."

**"Ducky! McGee's passed out. He's not breathing! Tell me what...!"**

"Anthony, calm down and revert to your first aide training, my dear fellow. Clear his airways and commense cpr. Where are you?" Ducky's calm soothing tone did help calm Tony down.

"Outside, in the truck."

"I'll be right there. I'll alert Jethro for you."

"Already done, Doc. Hurry, please!" Tony's fear was palpable; even as he abandoned the phone and tended to his fallen teammate.

Ziva arrived at his shoulder with the first aid equipment and set it down; immediately stepping over to the other side of the truck to administer the compressions in tandem to Tony's breathing into Tim's mouth.

Gibbs and Ducky; as well as Palmer wheeling a gurney; arrived on the near devastaing scene. To see his youngest field agent lying there lifeless; with his teammates trying desperately to breathe life back into him; scared Gibbs more than he'd been scared in a very long time. Quickly, Tony and Gibbs transported McGee from the truck to the gurney.

Before stepping back and handing the reigns over to Ducky; Gibbs did what he knew to do best;

**"MCGEE! You don't have permission to die! Get your ass back here!"** amidst Ducky and Palmer's continued cpr ministrations.

Gibbs then stepped back; marginally; refusing to go far. McGee's eyes snapped open as he sucked in a huge block of air; almost gagging himself in his attempt to take in more than he was able at one time. Ducky got the young man to relax enough to regulate his breathing; immediately slapping the oxygen mask on his face; when that had been accomplished; telling him not to take it off. All of them breathed a huge sigh of relief. Ducky turned to Tony.

"How long was he not breathing, Anthony?"

"Ducky, I don't know. Ziva was driving and Probie and I were hanging on for dear life and I know he got real quiet; but I don't know exactly what happened and when."

"Jethro, he needs to be checked out at the hospital to make sure he's suffered no ill effects from this situation." Ducky told the Senior Officer.

"OK. Duck; I'll take him. He okay to ride in a car or does he need to ride in an ambulance?"

Tim frantically began shaking his head and trying to veto that suggestion.

"Hey! McGee! Not taking chances here; you got it?" Gibbs quietly demanded; as he looked at his fallen agent and tried to both calm him and get through to him; as the relief at having him back from the jaws of death threatened to overwhelm him.

Tim meekly calmed down and nodded at his boss.

"Jethro, his color is returning to normal and his breathing is regular; so he should be fine as a passanger in a car; but I do insist he keep that mask on until you get him under the care of a dr. there." Ducky instructed.

"Tony, get me my car! Duck. pave the way for us; will ya? Don't wanna be stuck in the e.r. for hours waiting to be seen ." Gibbs said with feeling.

"Absolutely, Jethro; I''ll call right away."

As Tony zoomed up in Gibbs' car; Ducky and Jimmy quickly and carefully bundled Tim into the front passenger seat; knowing Gibbs would need to be able to reach him if something do go wrong.

"Thanks. Tony, Ziva, good job; you probably helped save his life. Now, go see Abby and get to work on the case. I'll be back when I can. Ziva; you watch; Tony and Abby work the case; got it?" Gibbs directed; knowing they needed something to do. "Ducky; we'll need that autopsy report as soon as possible."

"Yes, Jethro; I know. Call me when you have Timothy's prognosis, will you?" Ducky answered.

"Sure, Duck." Gibbs promised as he jumped into the driver's seat; checked his agent over; making sure he was breathing steady; and for once in his life; drove safely off the Navy yard. An hour later found Tim McGee being admitted for observation under Gibbs' unrelenting glare; daring the young man to even argue the point.

"Boss, I'm fine. We've got a case to investigate!" Tim objected. He felt fine; The last thing he needed was to be seen as the weak link. He already felt like his place on the team was being tugged out from underneath him; what with the new girl in town being better trained and more ferocious and all. After all, he was just the team's computer geek.

"McGee; I already told you; we're not taking chances with this. The doctors want to keep an eye on you; said you were extremely lucky; no lingering after affects; no interruptions to your brain ; by some miracle; it seems your time without oxygen was minimal; thanks to Tony's quick thinking and Ziva's help." Gibbs once again laid down the law; this time using his 'dont' argue with me' tone.

"I know, Boss; but work..."

"Will wait, McGee. You can come back to work tommorrow if you get cleared by the doctors here." Gibbs vowed.

_"Great, not only does she try to kill me; but now she gets to replace me, too."_ McGee mumbled miserably. As he turned his head away from Gibbs' piercing glare; tears actually formed in his eyes and errantly escaped to slide down his face; as he saw what he felt was the beginning of the end of his career happening while he was helpless to stop it.

The new girl in town; whom he'd gone out of his way to welcome; despite the pain he still felt when he saw her sitting at Kate's desk; was taking over. Wouldn't be hard for her to do; after all Tim had only been on Gibbs' team for less than 2 years anyway. He'd be easy to replace; especially since he was just the computer geek. He always had been the odd man out on this team.

"McGee, look at me." Gibbs quiet but commanding voice froze the cogs of his brain in place mid whirl. Turning his head back to face his boss; he was shocked to find the man sitting on the edge of his hospital bed; compassion filling his eyes as he steadily claimed and kept his agent's eyes locked on him.

"McGee, no one is replacing you. You have nothing to worry about." Gibbs promised; with eyes that backed up that promise; unrelenting and steady; refusing to loose contact with Tim's own unsure, worried and fearful eyes. "You trust me?"

"Of course, Boss." Tim's quiet answer came back instantly.

"Then, trust me when I tell you this. No one is replacing you. Your job is safe. You've earned it."

Tim closed his eyes for a moment; trying to clear his head of every doubt Gibbs had just went out of his way to vanquish for him. When he opened his eyes again; Gibbs was gone.

Quickly, Tim picked up his bedside phone and dialed his boss' number.

"Yeah, Gibbs."

"Thank you." Tim quickly gave; wanting the man to hear only the gratitude and not the loneliness that had came upon him with a vengence; when he'd opened his eyes to find himself alone."No problem, Tim. I have to get back to the case; we'll be by after we call it a night. Call Ducky; let him know how you're doing." Gibbs directed before he ended the call. His youngest field agent had a lot going on in that head of his; and that comment he'd made about Ziva trying to kill them; certainly needed to be investigated; but right now; this case needed to be solved.


	2. Quiet Concern

Tim did as Gibbs had requested; eventually. First; he wanted; needed to let Tony know he was okay, His teammate had been scared to death and basically had to kiss him; so he deserved to know.

"DiNozzo," Tony snapped into his ringing phone as he answered it; still angry and keyed up with the events of the day. They'd damn near lost Probie today and Tony was willing to bet his next paycheck that it had to do with the crazy Isreali chick's suicidal driving. She'd scared Tim to death; pretty damn literally.

"Tony." McGee's quiet voice was music to the Senior Field Agent's ears.

"PROBIE! You all right, man?"

"Yeah, Tony; I'm fine; thanks to you. You saved my life. Thank you." Tim said with absolute gratitude radiating through the phone.

"Don't sweat it, man; you'd do the same for me. Where are you?"

"They're making me stay over night for observation. I tried to talk Gibbs out of it, but..."

"No way, man. They want to observe you after a scare like that; there's no way in hell; Bossman's gonna take any shortcuts on this one."

"Tony, did you tell Abby?"

"Yeah, Probie, she took it hard; but she's okay now that she knows we got you back."

"Can I talk to her?"

"Yeah, Hang on."

"Thanks. Is Gibbs back there yet?"

"No, I'm sure he will be soon."

"Yeah. I don't want to get you guys in trouble but I wanted to thank you and let you and Abby know I'm okay. I gotta call Ducky, too."

Tony put the phone on speaker as he entered Abby's lab; so she could hear the whole conversation.

"Okay, Probie; I'm in the lab; and I'm gonna hand you over to Abby. You make sure you don't have a repeat incident, you got me?"

"Yeah, Tony. I promise, I won't.

"Oh, and hey; we gotta talk about what actually happened, Probie." Tony reminded him.

"No, Tony; we don't." Tim's voice had changed; taken on a scared but determined quality.

Tony and Abby exchanged concerned looks before Tony answered Tim.

"Okay, Probie. Don't worry bout it. Here's Abby. I'll see you later." Tony stepped back and waited; silently letting Abby see that he was concerned enough about his teammate to want to hear a little more out of him.

"Timmy! You okay?" Abby asked cautiously.

"Yeah, Abby; I'm fine. They wanna keep me overnight for observation and I couldn't talk Gibbs out of agreeing with them."

"Course not, Timmy; you just came back from the jaws of death! There's no way Gibbs would let you shake that off that easy. You just get some rest; so you'll be ready to come back when they let you out, okay?"

"Yeah, Abbs. I will. You okay?"

"I'm fine; now that we have you back. Now get some extra rest. Give that heart of yours a break. It's had a rough day." Abby instructed him.

"Soon as I talk to Ducky." Tim promised.

"I'll come by and see you after work." Abby promised; "I'll know if you've been resting." she warned.

"I promise, Abbs. I'll rest soon." Tim's voice was growing weary.

As she ended the call and handed the phone back to Tony; they exchanged worried looks.

"What's wrong with him, Tony? He says he's fine; but he sounds anything but!"

"I don't know, Abbs. I..." Tony started to answer.

"He's worried about being replaced because he's not here; thinks we consider him weak, now." Gibbs said from the doorway; where he'd been standing; listening to the conversation. His concern for his youngest field agent was building. Somehow; Gibbs knew it boiled down to what he'd said about Ziva trying to kill him. He needed the incident reports asap. Even with the current case needing to be solved.

"Tony, you fill out your incident report from this, yet?" Gibbs asked.

"No, Boss; we were working on the case; like you requested." Tony answered; regret in his voice.

"Okay. go take care of your incident report. Tell Ziva to get hers done too. I want every single detail; every spoken word; nothing left out!"

"Boss?"

"Abby, call McGee back and ask him to find enough energy to write out an incident report of his own. while it's still fresh on his mind. Tell him I said no detail is too small." Gibbs directed as he turned and left the lab; headed for Autopsy.

* * *

"Hey, Duck." Gibbs greeted as he reached Autopsy.

"Jethro, Timothy just called to tell me he was fine. Apparently he's very unhappy at not being released to come back to work. Who is with him?" Ducky asked.

"Duck; we've got a case to investigate; and I would rather be abl to give him an extra day to recouperate because we've solved the case; than coddle him now; and have a lot of case work for him to have to come back to." Gibbs explained. "Besides; we've got another problem to deal with. when he gets back here."

"Oh?"

"The incident reports. What really happened. Why it happened. McGee said something about Ziva trying to kill them. It's a pretty safe bet, he was referring to her driving. Which means the whole; him passing out and damn near dying on us; was probably induced by being scared to death. Unfortunately; it became a little too literall for my liking."

"I agree, Jethro. Of course! You remember Timothy was in a dreadful car accident on his 16th birthday."

"Well, yeah, Duck. He told Tony he'd wrecked his Camero; wound up in traction; and couldn't remember the events that happened that day." Gibbs reminded the M.E. "Took him ten years to find the nerve to get behind the wheel of a car again."

"Somehow, Ziva's driving must have triggered something; deep seated panic maybe; from that day. Possibly, whatever mechanism his brain had locked those memories away in; was jarred open by this afternoon's excursion."

"Wasn't exactly an excursion, Ducky; the kid was just tryin to get back to his job." Gibbs answered dryly with enough anger coloring it; the M.E. knew the whole situation had Jethro extremely angry. Not that Ducky could blame him. The sight of Timothy lying there lifeless had scared him something awful, too. Losing Caitlyn and Pacci had been dreadful and painful enough. This M.E. did not want to have to lose another agent.

"All right, Duck; we can talk to him about it when he comes back. For now, whatta ya got for me on this case?" Gibbs changed the subject; anxious to have this case solved.


	3. Quietly Finding the Answers

Six O'clock that night found Gibbs sitting at his desk in an empty squad room. Tony, Abby, Ducky and Palmer had all gone to visit McGee. Ziva had disappeared quietly. Gibbs had no idea where she'd gone. He'd barely spoken two words to her since he'd rushed off to get McGee checked out at the hospital. With his short fuse; he hadn't trusted himself to speak to her; yet.

With the Incident Reports on his desk from Tony and Ziva; on top of the current case information; Gibbs chose to dig into the team's explanations of what took place on their way back to work, By the time he was done reading both reports; Gibbs was certain he and Ducky were right. But, even more than that; he was now worried about what would this do to McGee's ability to keep going without getting caught up in the web of everything his car accident had until now; hadn't been an active part of his memory. How much had the trauma from today shaken loose up there. Gibbs pulled up McGee's personnel file and quickly located his parents' contact information; fully prepared to call them down here; if the need arose.

"Boss, you still here?" Tony came back to the squad room.

"DiNozzo? Why aren't you visiting McGee with Abby?" Gibbs questioned.

"I did. He asked me to get him something from his desk; so that's what I'm doing." Tony explained.

"What could he possibly want tonight that couldn't wait until tomorrow? Gibbs asked dryly.

"His MP3 player. Says his family pitched in and got it for him for Christmas last year." Tony answered.

"And McGee asked you specifically to come get it tonight?" Gibbs asked; knowing that everyone who knew McGee would know the answer to that one.

"Well, no; but..." Tony hedged.

"But, what DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked with concern.

"Boss; he's depressed. He's trying to hide it; but I see it. So, I though I'd come get this thing for him; maybe help take his mind off what he won't talk about."

"You know what's buggin him." Gibbs declared."

"I told him we'd have to talk about what happened." Tony admitted.

"I know, Tony; I heard the conversation. He'll talk when he's ready. To who ever he's ready to talk to. You got a good idea going there; go ahead take that back to him. Make sure Abby gets home safe." Gibbs told him. "You have his Incident Report, by any chance?"

"Ah, yeah. Actually, I do. Here it is." Tony handed Gibbs a white envelope that was sealed and had Gibbs' name on it in Tim's writing. As Gibbs set it down, unopened; on top of the others; he thought to ask:

"Tony, what do you remember about his car accident that happened on his 16th birthday; based on what he's told you?"

"I remember a few pieces of conversations were we've touched on the subject, Boss."

"I'm listening." Gibbs told him; determined to work the kinks out of this problem before McGee came back to work.

* * *

_TONY: Don't start, Probie.  
KATE: Tony's car was towed. Poor baby had to take the bus to work.  
TONY: You know what kind of people take the bus?  
MCGEE: Yeah, I take the bus.  
TONY: Exactly. TONY: Sure brings back memories, Probie. Oh, I don't suppose you had a car to wash in high school.  
MCGEE: Actually, I did, Tony. My parents bought one for me the day I turned sixteen.  
TONY: Let me guess…. Yugo?  
MCGEE: No, it was much cooler than that.  
TONY: I'm sorry. What was I thinking? I forgot who I'm dealing with here. Uh… Duster?  
MCGEE: Nope.  
TONY: Gremlin?  
MCGEE: You're not going to guess it, Tony.  
TONY: One of the Ford trilogy of dork mobiles? Maverick? Fiesta? Pinto? If you say Datsun Honeybee, I'm going to come over there and smack you.  
MCGEE: Eighty four Camaro Z-twenty-eight, five speed.  
TONY: That's a smokin' hot car, McGee. What the hell went wrong with you?  
MCGEE: Well, the first day I got behind the wheel, I had a slight… thing.  
TONY: Head on?  
MCGEE: I was trying to figure out the wipers. I took my eyes off the road for a second. When I looked up, there it was right in front of me.  
TONY: Car!  
MCGEE: Bus. I got a student pass the day I got out of traction.  
TONY: I didn't know _

_MCGEE: Well, you know, I had amnesia after my car crash.  
TONY: Your bumper car get T-boned at Legoland, Probie?  
MCGEE: No, Tony. I told you about when I totaled my Camaro when I was sixteen. That day is still a blank to me. _

_

* * *

_Gibbs frowned after hearing what Tony related to him. Yeah; this situation was gonna have lasting repercussions. But, for now; they could only take things one day at a time.

"Thanks, Tony. Can you dig up the accident report before you go?" Gibbs asked

"That what happened out there today, Boss? Ziva's driving bring that accident back to him?" Tony asked in concern as he fired up his computer and dove into the search.

"Possibly, DiNozzo. Won't know until he opens up. And he won't do that if anyone pushes him into it." Gibbs admitted and warned at the same time.

"Gotchya, Boss. Okay. Here it is." Tony printed it off; signed off his computer; and handed Gibbs the report.

"Thanks. Nite. Tony."

"Oh, Boss, who's gonna pick him up from the hospital when they let him go tomorrow?" Tony asked obviously vying for the assignment.

"It's been taken care of, DiNozzo. But, you've got him for lunch; whether he's here or not." Gibbs promised; knowing his Senior Field Agent was bucking to do some brotherly take charge stuff with McGee.

"On it, Boss! Nite!" Tony's smile lit the room even as he tore out of the squad room like his pants were on fire


	4. Talking About It

_A/N: I apologise for the short chapters; but I've decided in this story; shorter is better._

* * *

After an early morning phone call to McGee's Doctor at the hopital; Gibbs quickly fixed up his guest room; determined to not let McGee stay alone just yet.

Eight that morning found Gibbs waiting for the young man to be finished signing out. As they walked out to the parking lot; McGee found himself hoping that he'd be getting taken straight back to work; needing to be busy and not cause any more problems on the team. Being with Gibbs outside of work was disconcerting. He wasn't ready for this. They'd hardly ever talked at work as it was; never outside work. He didn't know how to act and he was definately not comfortable. Feeling like he'd stepped back a year in time; having to prove himself all over again with the only thing being different is who the woman on the team was now.

It wasn't that he didn't believe what Gibbs had said to him. He just didn't trust himself not to screw things up. Having a near death experience because an event from over 10 years ago came back to bite you in the rear with a vengance; pretty much equalled screwing things up. Having long forgotten; well; actually, never before remembered memories come rushing out at you from the hidden recesses of your mind in a truly terrifying moment of a horrendous experience did not promote a feeling of job security. No, what Tim McGee saw coming down the pike at him now was a free ride to the looney bin compliments of the new chic Ziva David.

Gibbs had noticed how quickly McGee had tensed up when he'd seen who his ride was. The young man's eyes; clear windows to his soul as they were; more transparent than anyone else Gibbs knew; were full of worry and fear. _What was going through this kid's head?_

Gibbs felt driven to put this kid at ease. "Okay?"

"Yeah, Boss. I'm fine. Thanks for picking me up."

"You ready for some breakfast?"

"Actually, I am hungry, yes." Tim admitted.

"Good, let's stop and eat."

Fifteen short minutes later found them comfortably seated at a booth in a nearby cafe; getting ready to dive into their big breakfasts. As McGee dug into his food; Gibbs drank his coffee while silently watching him in concern. Finally after a few minutes of silence between them; Gibbs asked.

"Had any problems breathing since yesterday?"

"No problems, Boss, I'm fine."

"Good. Have to tell you, McGee; when I talked to your Doctor this morning; he didn't exactly object to the idea of you not staying by yourself just yet; just as a precautionary measure." Gibbs told him seriously.

Immediately, Gibbs saw shock and concern cross the young man's face. "Where...where would I..."

"You can stay with me. And before you object; we're only talking about 1 night. After you've taken in a day of work, today; desk duty; I wanna keep an eye on you. I want to make sure we don't have anything to worry about."

Tim's disbelief was written all over his face.

"Don't look at me like that. You died yesterday. That's not something any of us are gonna just blow off. Gibbs said with aggravation.

When Tim's expression changed to meek mortification; Gibbs couldn't help but smile for a second. He quickly got serious again.

"I read the incident reports." Gibbs advised him; nudging the conversation onto the related path.

The expression on Tim's face instantly became wary; an expectancy of trouble showing itself.

"What are you worried about?" Gibbs asked with his keen sense of perception.

Tim couldn't bring himself to answer; knowing he could never lie to the man. Not yet comfortable enough around him to confide in his boss; all he could do was stare at his coffee as he slowly stirred it with his spoon.

"Tim. Obviously, you're not comfortable talking to me. But, this is important. It involves your safety; the safety of the team; and we have to address it."

The fear was back and beginning to take hold of his agent. Seeing this; Gibbs decided it was time to take this thing by the horns and get it dealt with.

"Let me tell you what I think is going on here; and you can confirm or deny it." he requested.

Tim silently nodded; finally dragging his eyes up to meet those of his boss; his ingrained manners not allowing him to do anything different.

"From what we've been able to piece together; based on what we've seen and heard:

When I told Ziva she could drive the truck back to the Navy Yard yesterday; she drove like a New York cab driver; so badly it scared the hell out of DiNozzo; and literally scared you to death. Now, based on we've been able to figure out; her driving apparently opened up some long forgotten memories for you of your accident on your 16th birthday. Do we have it figured out right?"

"Close enough." was Tim's quietly cryptic answer. With his head down and his eyes closed; it was plain to see the truth of the matter bothered him a great deal.

"Talk to me." came the quiet encouragement from his boss.

Looking back up at the man, Tim locked eyes with him for a long silent, soul searching minute; searching for the real behind the words. _Was he really interested; was it as team leader or was it as a person who cared about him as a person?_

Gibbs held his gaze steady and strong; knowing the young man was looking for how deep Gibbs' concern was coming from. He didn't back down; didn't hide any of his concern for him. Finally, after a long silence; he was rewarded with the young man's honest heart being worn on his sleeve; again.

"It's like I've told Tony before, Boss. That day's been a blank to me since the day it happened. Until yesterday. One minute Ziva was driving dangerously crazy and the next I was literally being sucked back into the exact time and place of my accident; like it was happening all over again. I was back in the wreck. The screaming, the twisting metal; breaking glass; the pain; all of it. So real I all of a sudden I literally couldn't breathe."

"It's okay, relax. Calm your breathing down." Gibbs urged as Tim's breathing had gotten harsh and quick; sure signs of an impending panic attack. "Take a break. Drink some of your water."

When Tim had calmed down; he looked at Gibbs with regret. "It was a panic attack, Boss. How man people do you know die from a panic attack?" His self depreciating tone wasn't lost on Gibbs.

"It wasn't just a panic attack, Tim. You just told me that your mind had flashed back to your car accident. You were stuck re-experiencing a very painful and traumatising event. That's a huge difference." Gibbs qualified.


	5. Quiet Resolution

_"It wasn't just a panic attack, Tim. You just told me that your mind had flashed back to your car accident. You were stuck re-experiencing a very painful and traumatising event. That's a huge difference."_

* * *

"It just confirms it." Tim said miserably before he could stop the words from spewing out.

"Confirms what?"

"Nothin, Boss. I didn't mean to say that." Tim tried to back pedal; knowing it was a losing battle.

"You mean you didn't mean to say to me." Gibbs told him wisely.

Again, Tim's expression gave away how guilty he felt.

"Why is it you don't think you can talk to me?" Gibbs asked.

"You're serious?" Tim couldn't help but ask him.

"Yeah, I'm serious."

"Boss, you and I? We don't even talk at work! You say more to Tony or Abby in one day then you do to me in two weeks! And when we do talk; it's case related. Do I have this done yet; or what did I find out about that?"

"Okay. I'm listening now. I need you to talk to me, so I can help you sort this out."

"Don't you mean so you can figure out if I belong in the psych ward?" Tim asked miserably.

"Why would you even suggest such a thing?" Gibbs was getting angry.

"Seems like the natural progression of things in this case, don't you think?"

"Hell, no, I don't think." Gibbs answered. "Why are you so intent on breaking yourself down like this?"

"Better I do it to myself, than I let someone else do it." Tim said with all honesty.

"That what you think? You're gonna be treated like an insane person because you reacted to a crisis situation?"

"Is that what we're calling her driving now?" Tim asked half jokingly.

"When it causes the problems and damn near kills you; like it did; you're damn straight we are." Gibbs said.

"What happens next?" Tim asked; successfully changing the subject; at least he hoped, anyway.

"With what?"

"Me. Ziva."

"You, if you need help sorting this out; you can talk to me; you can talk to the agency shrink; Ducky; your choice, Or, if don't want help and you're not at risk for having this interfere with your safety and performance on the job; you don't have to talk to anyone about it. As far as your job goes; you just need to let Ducky keep an eye on you for a week or so after today. I prefer to give you a few more days on desk duty, just as a precaution; but, other than that; you're back to normal on the job." Gibbs told him.

"And Ziva?"

"Don't know yet." Gibbs honestly told him.

"Can't we just drop it?" Tim asked.

"That what you want?"

"In all honesty, yes."

"So, that's it?"

"Please."

"I'll see what I can do." Gibbs told him.

"okay."

* * *

_GIBBS: She almost killed my entire team yesterday.  
SHEPARD: How?  
GIBBS: Driving home from a crime scene.  
SHEPARD: I should have warned you. I think she was an East European cabdriver in a past life._

"Don't think Tim almost dying is a laughing matter, Jen." Gibbs said angrily. "I know him having to relive his high school car accident doesn't have him laughing."

"What are you talking about?" Jenny asked in shock.

"You telling me you have no idea what happened here yesterday?"

"Jethro, I was out of town until an hour ago!"

Gibbs filled her in on everything she missed. "Unbelievable!" she exclaimed in shock.

"That's one way of putting it." Gibbs said dryly.

"What are you gonna do about it?" Jenny asked him.

"Me? She's your Liason Officer, not mine. This is your ball of wax. I would suggest you get her some proper driving instruction, though. And tell her she won't be driving my team around again any time soon!" Gibbs said as he went back down the stairs to work.

* * *

A week later; the team had managed to get back on track. Ziva had profusely apologise to Tim. Jenny had enforced Gibbs suggestion that Ziva take driving classes. Tim had also followed Gibbs' advice; and began seeing the Agency shrink. As the days progressed; the fear and worry seemed to leave the agent's eyes a little more each day. Although he wouldn't talk to anyone on the team about the accident or even about Ziva's driving; he was becoming more outgoing and relaxed around them.

When the day came for Tim to get back in a car for a field call; he did so with little problem. Surprisingly enough, the one unexpected good thing to come out of all of this; seemed to be Gibbs' driving settling down to a less frenzied pace; as if he too; now had too much respect for what Tim had been through; to put him through anything even close to it again. It had been a costly learning experience; but they had all learned from it; and were all recovering from it. They had been lucky.

They were still a team.


End file.
